Flora Report

In the Horse Hole, there are many aspen trees, or populus tremula. The wood is white, light, soft and durable if kept dry. These plants loose their leaves in the winter and grow them back in the spring. The leaves are mostly mostly circular with a tip on the end and about an inch in diameter. They can grow up to 30 feet tall. These trees prefer habitats full of light, so if a larger tree grows and takes up all the light, than that destroys the niche for the aspen tree.



Works Cited:
www.2020site.org/trees/aspen.html

www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/4dmg/Trees/aspencan.htm

Observation 4

When I observed the horse hole, on June 2 around 4:00 PM, the temperature was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It was over cast, again! I wonder when the weather will get better. The air was calm, and I good hear robins, Turdus Migratorius; Magpies, Pica Hudsonia; and even a Chickadee, Poecile Atricapillus. I also noticed that a lot of Forget-Me-Not's, or Myosotis Sylvatica, have begun to bloom. There's still no water in the pond yet. I'm starting to think it won't fill until after school gets out, so this won't affect the environment much.

Observation 3

When I observed the horse hole, on May 31, it was about 8:30 PM, and around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It had rained earlier that day, and I noticed there was more water in the pond, but not much, yet. The grass was wet and the air and the soil was damp, so this will help with the growth of the plants. The plants will also be able to provide food for grazing animals, such as the horses that go through there, or the chiselers, Spermophilus Beecheyi, that I have seen every time I go outside. These ground squirrels, then, provide food for larger animals. This is the transfer of energy in the environment, so once the chiseler dies, it decomposes and provides energy for the producers, and starts the cycle again. I hope the pond fills soon.